Bruised
by mercurywrites
Summary: Lily finds Severus in the playground with a large bruise on his face and discovers that not all parents are as loving as hers.


_**This oneshot is based off of an event mentioned in Chapter 83 of my series of drabbles, Snapshots, and was requested by Steff Malfoy1.**_

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><p>It was a perfect summer day – the sun was bright, but a cool, gentle breeze prevented it from becoming too hot – and I was on my way to Severus's and my playground, swinging a picnic basket filled with my Mum's biscuits and lemon bars by my fingers. My mind wandered as I skipped down the sidewalk, the hot cement burning the soles of my bare feet. Severus and I had begun drifting apart during our first year at Hogwarts, with our different Houses, different schedules, and different sets of friends constantly getting in the way. Now that it was summer, we agreed to spend every possible moment together in order to make up for all the lost time.<p>

I came to a narrow dirt path that seemed to disappear into the forest and turned onto it, ducking under a wayward tree branch as I did so. No one but Sev, Tuney, and I knew that the path led to an old, falling-apart, abandoned playground. Since finding it by accident two years ago, it had been Petunia's and my sanctuary from the outside world. Now that Petunia was growing up and had "better things to do than play with a couple of freaks in an old, dilapidated playground," the playground belonged to Sev and I.

After a moment, the path widened and the trees began to clear, opening up into a wide field surrounded by bushes. In the middle of the field stood two large, rusted swingsets, a seesaw, a tall metal slide, and an old sandbox which no longer contained sand. Severus was already sitting on one of the swings, kicking at the dirt with his sneakers.

"Hey, Sev!" I called out as I broke into a run, the picnic basket banging awkwardly against my thigh, "My mum baked us some stuff!"

Sev pushed off of the ground and swung around to face me, the rusted metal chains clanging loudly as he did so. I grinned at him as I hurried closer, but my smile quickly disappeared when I saw his face.

"Severus!" I gasped, staring in horror at the deep purple bruise beginning under his right eye and extending across the side of his face like a long, gruesome vine.

He tried to smile at me but winced, as if the effort hurt him.

I dropped the basket, all thoughts of my mum's sweets forgotten, and hurried over to him, asking, "Sev, how did you do that to your face? Did someone punch you? If someone punched you, I'm going to kill them, I'm—"

"It's fine, Lily," he said, smiling at me reassuringly, "I just…I walked into a door, is all. It was dark, and I didn't see it. Now, what did you say your mum baked for us? I'm starving."

There was something wrong with his story, something wrong with the way he averted his eyes as he told me what happened. And he had that same guilty smile on his face that he always wore when he was trying to lie to me about something.

"I don't believe you," I said, crossing my arms firmly over my chest, "And _don't_ try to change the topic, I'm not stupid. Now, who gave you that bruise?"

Sev stood from the swing. Walking around me, he said offhandedly, "I already told you, I walked into a door. It's nothing, really." He sat down by the picnic basket, pulled open the top, and peered inside. "Those biscuits look good."

"I told you not to change the topic," I snapped, sitting beside him in the overgrown grass.

He sighed, and slowly closed the lid on the basket. "Alright. I'll tell you, but only because you're my best friend," he said, and then, after a moment's pause, added, "And you have to promise not to tell anyone."

"I promise," I said, my eyes straying to the large bruise on his face.

Sev's eyes darted around the playground, as if to make sure no one was listening, before leaning in closer to me and whispering, "It was my dad."

"_What_?" I screeched. Anger coursed through me like a flash of lightening, and I leapt to my feet. "Sev, you have to tell someone! Come on, we'll go tell my parents right now!"

I turned towards the little dirt path and started to walk away, but Sev grabbed onto my hand, stopping me. I tried to pull my arm from his grasp, but his viselike hold on my hand only tightened. "Lily, please, we can't tell anyone."

"But—"

"No, listen to me, if we tell, my dad will hurt my mum and me. Besides, you promised you weren't going to tell. A promise is a promise."

I was desperately torn between wanting to keep my promise to my best friend, and wanting to tell my parents so that they could help him. A silent war waged within my mind for a moment, but in the end, I sat back down in the grass and pulled a bag of biscuits from the picnic basket. Offering one to Sev, I said, "Fine. I won't tell this time. But if it happens again, I'm going straight to my parents."

He took the biscuit from my hand, brought it to his mouth, and bit down. "Alright," he said as he chewed, looking contemplative, "It's a deal."

Moments later, we were talking and laughing and eating sweets from my picnic basket, the bruise on his face nearly forgotten. But every time I looked up, it was there. Every time I looked into his face, it would surprise me again, ugly and noticeable and unable to be ignored.


End file.
